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Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, where to eat?

Unfortunately, the is no Fodors guidebook for Cambodia. The only guidebooks I have for the destination is a Lonely Planet guidebook that tends to cater to backpackers on a cash poor time rich schedule. I simiply don't trust Trip Advisor and the reviews posted on that website. Could Fodorites who have been to Cambodia recently please recommend restaurants in PP and SR.

Look at the Friends Restaurants in Phnom Penh. We ate at their Romdeng and had a wonderful meal in a beautiful setting. The organization trains and employs street kids, teaches them art as well. We all ended up buying prints too.

In Siem Reap, there's a hotel across the river from the main town called Bopha Angkor. I wouldn't normally be recommending a hotel restaurant (well, I don't usually do restaurant recs at all), but they had some really nice Khmer traditional curries and amok. And the restaurant is out front, open patio so it doesn't seem much like a hotel restaurant.

How you like or don't like a particular restaurant really can be an individual thing. Some want authentic, local cuisine, others may enjoy Italian or Mexican or seafood. I know you should experience the food of the country you're visiting but sometimes you need a break. I will be in SR for 13 nights and while I will enjoy the local cuisine I will try Il Forno for homemade pasta.

My daughter who lives in China and travels a lot to other SE Asian countries also says some of the best food she had was street food so maybe give that a try when you're in SR. Check out the Pub St. area.

I've found TA to be unreliable on numerous occasions. An example, looked at TA restaurant recommendations in Goreme, Turkey and made note of the top picks. The number #1 pick was a restaurant close to where I was staying and I had to walk past the restaurant each day - every day it was deserted (ie, there weren't any customers) except the last day when there was one customer having dinner. That really didn't make any sense. When speaking to people who I'd met on various day tours in Cappadocia, one couple had dinned at the restaurant and said the meal left a lot to be desired. Other people who I spoke to on day tours all recommended restaurants that I went to which were all good but poorly rated on TA.

That's just one example. I myself have been disappointed with some of TA's top picks in the past, I simiply don't understand how the website ranks hotels/restaurants, etc when some of the #1 listings have much fewer reviews than other establishments.

TA has no way of regulating who posts a review, there is no way of verifying if the reviewer was an actual customer. I rely on Booking.com/Agoda/Expedia for hotel reviews and usually read about restaurant recommendations elsewhere (in guidebooks for example).

RJ That's too bad about your experience. I can understand now why you'd be leery about TA recommendations. I only post reviews for the places I've actually dined at or stayed at. I also almost every time post pictures.

It is a problem that a restaurant which has gotten only high ratings but from few reviewers could be listed higher than one which got hundreds more but not all glowing. However, the ones I mentioned in SR were based on hundreds of reviews so they may be worth a look.

A good way to determine is what you mentioned about seeing how many people are in the restaurant. Most time if a place is full I like to think it's because the food, service, etc. are good.

Also on my list to check out for SR is Amok (you mentioned that), Viroth's, and the Blue Pumpkin for ice cream.

Opps,when I typed "Amok" in the op, I was referring to the dish, not the restaurant. Now I see that the way I worded the last sentence in the op wasn't clear. I was asking what must try foods/dishes I should look for in restaurants.

I will look over the recommendations on this thread and choose where to go. I will be in Cambodia for a week, so I'll make reservations at the restaurants as I won't have much oppoutunity to head back to a restaurant of interest if I can't get a table if I show up without any reservations.

Interesting comments on TA. I think that a thread on the topic would be a good discussion for the lounge.

With a few exceptions restaurants in Siem Reap are walk in and i don't know whether they do reservations. Definitely book for Cuisine Wat Damnak. In Phnom Penh I'd suggest booking for Friends and Romdeng also. I was at Friends a few weeks ago and had to wait for a table (I was on my own so not terribly profitable.)